Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Kevin Kiernan
The views expressed in this report are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect
Those of the Forestry Commission or the Department of Parks, Wildlife and
Heritage.
Front cover:
top:
Dogs Head Hill, Australias largest Karst hum.
centre:
A sinkhole formed after clearing for pasture at Loatta
bottom: Speleotherms in Croesus Cave. Photo: G. Watt
Typeset on an Apple Macintosh computer using Microsoft Word in Palatone 10pt font.
Published by
CONTENTS
Page
Acknowledgements
Preface
Terms of Reference
Introduction
Structure of the Report
PART A
iv
v
vi
vii
ix
2
2
4
7
9
18
18
20
32
38
47
Caves
60
71
73
Water management
74
77
Logging
79
81
85
86
88
89
PART C
73
96
103
9. Recommendations
107
Appendix I
117
Appendix 2
119
References
121
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report could not have been completed without the co-operation of a number
of
individuals who willingly contributed information, assistance and encouragement
in a
variety of ways. Particular thanks are due to the instigators of the project, Steve
Harris of
the National Parks and Wildlife Service* and Paul Wilkinson and Jim Walker of the
Forestry Commission and also to Brendan Diacono, Brian Hodgson, John Rushton
and others in
the Commission for aiding its progress.
I must also thank the many people who have assisted me in the Mole Creek area,
especially
Lesley and Ray (Minis) How; Chester Shaw and Vic Fahey (Parks and Wildlife);
Kevin
Eggins and Bruce Hay (Forestry Commission) and the many local landowners
who gave access
to their properties. For assistance in the field in other ways I am indebted to
Andrew
McNeil], Phil Jackson and others from the Southem Caving Society and also Bob
Woolhouse,
Comptom Allen and Henry Shannon of Northern Cavemeers. Brendan Diacono
remained
remarkably civil and co-operative despite being regularly asked to lie in cramped
watery
tunnels with the survey tape, and for similar assistance I am also indebted to
freelance
masochists like Attila Vrana and Don Cheeseman.
The bulk of the word processing fell to Lynne Cullen to whose speedy and
efficient fingers and
patience, an enormous debt is due. Special thanks are also extended to Graham
Angel who
drafted all the inventory maps, among others. Additional cave maps and
photographs were
made available for the original studies from a number of sources, and in this
regard I must
thank Fred Koolhof, Daryll Carr, Ted Mathews, Geoff Baxter and the Victorian
Speleological Association.
I am grateful also to the late Dr J. N. Jennings, formerly of the Australian National
University. For help in various other ways I must also thank Professor Derek Ford,
McMaster
University, Canada; Dr Malcom Newson, Institute of Hydrology, Plynlimon, Wales;
Dr Tony
Waltham, Trent Polytechnic; Dr Paul Griffiths, Tahsish Co. Ltd., British Columbia;
Professor Paul Williams, Auckland University; Bruce Buffington, Ministry of
Forests, British
Columbia; Kevan Wilde, N.Z. Department of Lands; lohn Dunkley, Elery HamiltonSmith
and Nicholas White of the Australian Speleological Federation; Andy Spate,
National
Parks and Wildlife Service (NSW); Peter Bosworth, National Parks and Wildlife*
(Tas.);
Albert Goede, Tasmanian Caverneering Club; Frank Brown, Dept. of the
Environment, Hobart;
Peter McQuillan, Dept. of Agriculture, Hobart; Bill Pycroft, Naracoorte Caves,
South
Australia; Steve Smedley and Iohn McDonald of the Forestry Commission and
many others.
Andy Spate, Greg Middleton and members of the Southern Caving Society
provided helpful
comments on the original 1984 report, some of which are reflected in this
version. I am
grateful to Dr Mick Brown for comments on a draft of this occasional paper and
special thanks
are extended to Greg Middleton who edited this version of the report.
Opinions expressed and any mistakes, errors or omissions which remain are my
own.
KWK
* When the original report was prepared (Nov. 1984) the people mentioned were
officers of the
National Parks and Wildlife Service (Tasmania). The Service was incorporated into
the Department of
Lands, Parks and Wildlife in May 1987 and bacame the Dept. of Parks, Wildlife 8:
Heritage in Iuly 1989
iv
PREFACE
This Occasional Paper is based on a comprehensive report and inventory of the
karst resources of the Mole Creek area which was compiled in 1984 (Kiernan
1984).
The project was based within the Forestry Commission and funded jointly by the
Forestry Commission and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (now the
Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage), as a recipient of a grant under the
National Estate Grants Scheme.
This summary of the original report largely reflects the situation as it was when
the inventory was completed in 1984. It has not been possible to update the
inventory comprehensively, although minor amendments have been made where
possible, and necessary.
The original version of this report proposed a more specific draft karst
management policy and draft guidelines for forestry operations in karst. Modified
versions of these have been published elsewhere (Kiernan 1987a, b) and they
are not reproduced here. The Forestry Commission acknowledges the importance
of karst through its employment of a geomorphoiogist and the inclusion of some
provisions for forestry operations in karst areas in the Forest Practices Code.
V
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Aims of the Study
1.
To evaluate any direct or indirect consequences of forestry practices on
the cave systems
and karst features at Mole Creek.
2.
To develop management principles for use of the karst landscape of Mole
Creek,
particularly in regard to those areas designated as State Forest and Crown Land.
3.
are
To identify the cave systems and other karst features at Mole Creek which
the
limestone/Permo-Triassic contact on the lower slope of the Western Tiers.
3.
and in the
different cave systems. Examination of the nature of the streams and their
present
erosive and load carrying capacities, as well as the projected stream behaviour
under conditions of different land use.
5.
include an
INTRODUCTION
The German term karst refers to a
landscape
which exhibits a characteristic
assemblage
of landforms and equally characteristic
drainage features which result from the
high degree of solubility in natural
waters
of the bedrock upon which it is
developed.
That bedrock is commonly limestone,
dolomite or an evaporite. Large
underground
caverns are frequently developed as
tourist
attractions, but a karst landscape is
also
characterised by other intriguing
features,
related particularly to weathering
processes
and drainage.
The Mole Creek district in central
northern
Tasmania is a highly scenic area that
contains a variety of karst resources. The
limestone belt measures some 26 km eastwest by
up to 10 km north-south, along the foot
of
the Great Western Tiers. Various forms
of
developmental activity have already
taken
place at Mole Creek, most notably the
clearing of land for agriculture. Some
conflict
exists between proposals for new
conservation reserves and other
proposals for the
expansion of production forestry. In
order to
safeguard the legitimate needs of the
tourist
industry, local landowners, recreation
seekers, scientists and others who
have an
interest in the future of the Mole Creek
karst
landscape, this karst forestry study was
initiated within the Forestry
Commission in
December 1983, with the active
support of
the National Parks and Wildlife Service
(Tasmania) and the Australian Heritage
Commission.
KARST AND ITS MANAGEMENT
Karst landscape is dominated by the
effect
of rock dissolution as a natural process.
It
poses special problems to land
managers.
Many of the more familiar landscapes
forming processes remain active in a
karst
area, and under some circumstances
certain
apparently karstic landforms may also
develop in other bedrock substrates by
processes other than solution
(pseudokarst).
Karst proper is best distinguished by
the
significantly more important role
played by
rock dissolution than exists in a non
karstic
landscape (Jennings 1985). As a result
of rock
dissolution, bedrock permeability
progressively increases, diverting drainage
underground. Over time the bedrock
structure
comes to exert a stronger control over
the
drainage pattern than does the surface
topography.
Underground drainage and large
caverns are
the best known components of a karst
land-
lowering
of the water table by pumping. In 1972
the
entire village of Bank in West Rand had
to
be evacuated. In the Hershey Valley in
Pennsylvania over 100 sinkholes
developed
within five months due to artificial
lowering of the water table. Twenty
nine
lives were lost in South Africa in 1962
when
pumping of groundwater from a gold
mine led
to sudden collapse (Jennings 1966).
Viii
possible
impacts are suggested and available
literature reviewed.
PART A
1967a).
(b) Collapse dolines result from the
collapse of a cave roof; they tend to
be more angular in plan than solution
dolines and have initially steeper
sides until slope degradation occurs;
depth - width ratio is generally
higher than for solution dolines
(Jennings 1963).
(c) Subjacent karst collapse dolines are
formed in non-karst rocks due to the
collapse of caves in underlying
limestone (Jennings 1967b, 1985).
(d) Subsidence dolines result from the
sporadic collapse and piping of unconsolidated regolith materials into
bedrock karst; engineering and
construction problems frequently
result (Waltham 1978).
(e) Alluvial streamsink dolines are
subsidence type dolines from which a
running stream removes insoluble
mantle materials (Jennings 1985).
2. Enclosed depressions
compound forms
Uvalas are compound enclosed
depressions
which result from the coalescence of
smaller
forms. They are generally elongated
along
the strike if the rocks are of steeply
dipping. Poljes are the largest karst
depressions, generally possessing a flat
alluvial
floor of at least several square
kilometres
extent. Their shape in plan is
frequently
A. SURFACE LANDFORMS
1. Enclosed depressions - basic
forms
Karst depressions assume a variety of
forms
that are related to the nature of the
bedrock, the slope, the surface soil or
regolith, and the process of origin. Karst
depressions are important factors in karst
drainage. Sinkholes or dolines are the
smallest forms. Sinkhole formation involves a complex interplay between
subsurface and surface solution, piping
(Chapter 2)
and reworking of the surface deposits.
Some
form in bedrock and others in
sediments that
overly the limestone. As the depression
enlarges it gathers drainage into itself
accelerating its own development
through a
positive feedback process. Sinkholes
can be
differentiated on a semi-genetic basis
(Cramer 1941)
depressions
(a) Inactive karst channels
Valley forms in karst areas are frequently different from those which
occur on other rock types, clue to the
intervention of karst processes. The
best known of these are dry valleys, an
inactive legacy of the loss of a former
surface water flow to newer underground routes. The valleys long profile is frequently interrupted by enclosed depressions or eminences of
bedrock or sediment. In some cases
they extend downslope from active
valleys, but greater complexity may
exist where they have been superimposed from impervious rocks which
once overlaid the karst, or where torrential meltwaters once flowed from
glaciers which overlaid the karst.
Some dry valleys may temporarily be
reactivated during cold climate
episodes due to the freezing of ground
moisture or the infilling of intakes by
frost-mobilised rock and earth debris.
Changes in the elevation of the
watertable due to headward sapping
or scarp retreat may also influence
their development (Ford 1979; Jennings
1985; Sparks and Lewis 1957).
(b) Active karst channels
A blind valley is one which terminates at a streamsink. Blind valleys
are the end product of a process
whereby the erosive capacity of a
stream is progressively reduced downstream of a point of water loss until
the new underground conduit is of sufficient size to permanently engulf the
stream, commonly beneath a steep
bedrock face. A steep-head represents
almost the opposite situation and is an
active valley which commences from a
spring at the foot of a steep slope or
regolith
cover because the regolith slows the
water
transfer processes and modifies the
influence
of gravity. Those forms which develop
on
exposed surfaces are readily
observable;
others are visible only if the regolith is
stripped (Table 1.1). Hence, an
understanding of the basic forms not only allows
the
land manager to better safeguard the
nature
conservation values of karst but also
provides a useful tool that may allow
insight
into the extent to which soil erosion
may
have occurred in a karst area.
Where forms that develop under a
regolith
cover are found exposed, it provides
evidence
that erosion has occurred and may
indicate
the extent of erosional loss. The timescale
cannot be accurately ascertained from
presently available data. Most
calculated
rates of karst surface lowering by
solution
represent basin-wide averages that
include
both surface and subsurface loss and
not
merely surface loss from specific sites.
Sweeting (1966) recorded 3-5 cm of
surface
lowering and the development of
runnels 7 15 cm deep over a period of 13 years
inactive
or fossil caves in which enlargement
has
ceased but in which the deposition of
calcium carbonate may be a continuing
process.
The colloquial term dead cave is
commonly
applied to an inactive cave in which the
deposition of calcium carbonate has
ceased.
A stream cave is necessarily active, but
not
all active caves contain a stream. Other
terms derive from the hydrological
function
of a cave. An inflow cave, swallet,
influx or
streamsink conducts water from a
surface
course to an underground channel. An
outflow
cave, efflux or resurgence cave
conducts an
underground stream back to the
surface. An
exsurgence is a spring fed by seepage
waters
rather than streamsink waters. Karst
springs may take the form of cave
entrances,
boulder collapses or pressure
upwellings. A
pothole or pot is a cave dominantly of
vertical development. Large rooms in
cave
systems are known as chambers or
caverns.
The chemical processes of groundwater
acidulation, limestone dissolution and
underground diversion of drainage are
addressed in the following chapter, but
some
of the influences upon the
deve1opment and
at one
site in Craven, England in
circumstances particularly favourable to fast
development of
karren.
6. Shallow Caves
SUBSURFACE LANDFORMS
conjugate
system (Jennings 1985). The unloading
of
stresses as erosion removes surface
overburden can lead to the formation of
dilation
joints parallel to the ground surface or
along
valley sides. However, excessively
abundant joints may lessen the mechanical
strength of the limestone to the extent
that
from
deveIoping.
Climate and topography also exert
important controls on cave development.
Caves
are not favoured in arid situations
where
insufficient water is available to
dissolve
the limestone or where water has been
scarce
due to the climate having been drier
during
5
sections
which develop parallel to the strike of
the
limestone beds, with shorter segments
flowing down or up the dip of the rock
beds.
Joints appear to more consistently
influence
cave development than do faults.
Passage form commonly reflects the
groundwater zone within which the cave
passage
has developed. Most caves are
probably
initiated deep in the permanently
saturated
zone (the phreas) but subsequent
development generally takes place in
one or
more of a number of domains within or
above
the phreas, depending partly upon rock
structure:
1. nothephreatic caves (Jennings
1977). In
this domain there is slow laminar flow
and something akin to Darcy flow
through unconsolidated sediments; tiny
anastomosing tubes develop often
along
bedding planes or joints but more randomly if the rock is more porous (Bretz
1942; Jennings 1980); turbulent flow
takes
over once a tube diameter of about
5mm is
attained but a low hydraulic head may
permit a continuationof this
enlargement
mode,- a legacy of three dimensional
sponge work, rock pendants, wall and
ceiling pockets and inverted roof
runnels
may remain.
2. bathyphreatic caves
Ford and Ewers 1978). If the hydraulic
head
permits the fall and rise of groundwater
through limestone over a great vertical
amplitude (Davis 1930) it may lead to
the development of a deep downward
loop; widely spaced joints and steeply
dipping beds are conducive to this
situation.
3. multiple loop dynamic phreatic
caves
(Ford and Ewers 1978). Where there
are
more frequent planes of weakness they
may permit the development of
multiple,
6
water supply purposes. Vadose caves
may
become accessible through the
development
of an entrance by upward collapse of a
seepage shaft; due to collapse elsewhere;
or due
to the ingress or egress of water from
or to the
surface. Entrances formed by solution
generally exhibit smoothly curved cross
profiles;
those formed or modified by collapse
tend to
have more angular profiles.
C. CAVE DEPOSITS
Cave deposits may be differentiated
into
chemical deposits (speleothems),
sediments
which consist of biological material
(biogenic deposits) and those which
consist
of earth and rock fragments (clastic
deposits). While the often highly
decorative speleothems are an attraction to
the casual cave viewer, it is often the clastic
deposits which are of most scientific
interest.
1. Speleothems
Probably the best known speleothems
are
the dOanard hanging stalactites, and
upgrowing stalagmites which frequently
form
beneath them. Both result from the
precipitation of calcite out of dripping water
(the
process is described in the following
chapter
which deals with processes significant
to
karst management). Straws are thin
tubular
stalactites which have been recorded
to
reach a maximum length of 6m.
Blockage of
their central capillary can lead to the
seepage being directed down the outer
surface
and the assumption of a more conical
form. A
column is formed by the growth of a
stalactite to the floor or its union with a
stalagmite.
Flowstone is a generic term which
covers a
variety of forms that precipitate from a
flowing film of water rather than from
2. Biogenic Deposits
Cave dwelling bats which deposit
guano and
phosphate minerals in caves in many
parts
of the world do not occur in Tasmania.
Nevertheless, biogenic deposits are still
to
be found in Tasmanian caves. Most
commonly, these consist of bone deposits
which
may be the result of animals falling into
natural pits, bones being washed in by
running water or bones left behind by
predatory
animals or Aborigines. Commonly they
are
found intermixed with flowstones or
clastic
deposits.
7
3. Clastic Deposits
Clastic cave sediments can be
differentiated
into three broad groups:
(a) Breakdown facies originate almost
entirely from within a cave and most
commonly consist of collapse boulders,
sands, pieces of broken speleothems
and
environment.
Whereas sediments that may
accumulate on
the surface of the landscape may be
removed
by erosion, cave sediments are often
protected from erosional processes and
may
prove particularly important in the
scientific reconstruction of past climatic,
biological or archaeological events. Fossil
pollen,
mollusc fossils and the remains of
larger
creatures found in cave sediments may
all
offer insight into past climates. Some
clastic
sediments are themselves indicative of
past
climates. Sediments of this kind include
rubbles produced by frost wedging of
the rock
that forms the roof or walls in the
entrance
region of a cave, and also sediments
that contain the presence of soil minerals
known to be
attributable to weathering under
particular
climatic conditions (Frank 1973).
saturation
equilibria.
Apart from the obvious need for
flowing
water, the availability of the CO2 is
therefore of paramount importance.
What is the
source of this CO2 ? Most rainwater
is only
very weakly acid and simple
solution is of
very limited consequence. The
majority of
the carbon dioxide is obtained
within the
soil and litter mantle where
metabolic and
decay processes are active. Some
British
studies have shown that most
solution occurs within 10m of the
ground surface (e.g. Williams 1968,
Smith and Mead 1962).
However, one study demonstrated
that the
hardness of cave drips appeared to
have
more relationship to seasonal
surface temperature (hence soil biochemistry)
with a
lag effect than to depth beneath the
surface
(Piny 1966). The vegetation cover is
clearly
very important, one study reporting
that
seepage water under a grassland
contained
Ca++ + 2HCO3
CO2 (air)
where
harder seepage waters join them.
The decay
of organic matter washed
underground pro-
9
vides additional Co2 (James 1977). Air
bubbles carried underground by turbulent
streams may be compressed, and this can
increase the Co2 partial pressure (Jennings
1980). The mixing effect is probably the
most important factor. Two saturated
solutions with different carbonate
concentrations may become
undersaturated upon mixing and hence
capable of dissolving more limestone (36in
1964). Cooling in descent may also
increase aggressiveness (Bjgli 1964,
Picknett 1972). More rarely, aggressive
hydrothermal waters that rise from depth
have also been shown to have been
significant in the development of some
caves.
SOURCE
Rain falling on
CONTRIBUTION
limestone.....................................................................................................1
Allogenic streams
- From rainfall
hardness...........................................................3
- From rock
weathering..........................................................18
Surface solution
- From bare
rock ......................................................................5
- From soil
profile....................................................................23
- From
joints............................................................................20
Subsurface caves and surface
streams ..............................................................................25
Stream caves of subjacent
karst...........................................................................................5
Table 2.1 Relative carbonate contributions in one karst catchment
Cave Creek, Cooleman Plain, NSW (after Jennings 1983b).
B . The Development of
Underground
Drainage
The geological structure and the
geomorphic
history of an area combine to
determine the
pattern of underground drainage that
develops. In the earliest stages of diversion
underground, the underground conduit
may be
unable to cope with flood flows such
that
the semi-abandoned surface channel is
periodically reactivated. In the simplest
case
the water which leaks into the channel
bed
opens up the limestone by solution,
leading
to the development of a channel
approximately beneath the valley floor. Hence,
joints
more significant under vadose
conditions
(B6gli 1969,Jennings 1985).
C. Karst Hydrology
Classical groundwater theory
recognises the
existence of a watertable, the plane of
contact between the phreatic zone in
which
pore spaces are permanently
water(filed,
and the vadose zone which lies above
it.
Karst hydrology has emphasised the
notion
of an epiphreatic zone across which the
watertable migrates seasonally or
ephemerally. The watertable is envisaged as
paralleling the ground surface although
having a
more moderate vertical amplitude.
Below
the watertable there is lateral water
movement as a consequence of a
pressure gradient produced by gravity and the
pressure
of the water column. Permeable rocks
which
do not confine water constitute an
aquifer,
whilst impermeable confining strata
constitutes an aquiclude. However, while this
simple notion is broadly satisfadory
when
dealing with rocks of high intergranular
porosity, cave-bearing limestone is
generally dense and water in it is confined to
joints
and solutional openings which may not
inter-connect. Thus there is often no
watertable-in the classical sense but rather a
three
dimensional maze of what are
effectively
multiple aquifers and aquicludes within
the
single limestone rock formation. The
limestone may contain both static and
mobile water, some with a free air space and
flowing
under the influence of gravity, some in
waterrified passages where uphill flow is
commonly maintained by an hydraulic
head,
or a combination of these. Some closer
semblance to a classical watertable can
only be
achieved when solution advances to
the
extent of permitting free
intercommunication
between . all the solution cavities, but
exerts
a major influence on this. One
comparative
study of forest and grassland hydrology
In a
South east Australian karst has shown
that
the forest cover produced twice the
transpiration loss and reduced infiltration to
nil
(Holmes and Colville 1970a, b).
Because
biological productivity is no higher in
karst
areas than in other terrains increased
transpiration does not balance the
reduction
in evaporation which results from rapid
infiltration. The transpirational loss has
been shown to be 15-30% less in
studies of two
temperate karst areas than that which
occurs in comparable non-karstic
terrains
(Pardre 1965, Jennings 1985).
11
12
higher
and flood peaks more moderate than
stream
flows in comparable non-karstic
terrains
(White and Reich 1970; Parde 1965).
The
significance of this fact to karst
evolution is
that while karst streams exert their
greatest erosion by mechanical means
during flood
peaks, karst waters remain
geomorphically
active despite the lesser peaks
because corrosion will often be of greater
proportional
significance than in non-karst terrains
(Jennings 1985).
13
E. Speleothem Development
There are a number of processes
entailed in the development in caves of
speleothems
14
such as stalactites and stalagmites.
Generally speaking, for carbonate to be
deposited in caves carbon dioxide must
be able
to diffuse from carbonate-rich seepage
water
into the cave atmosphere where the
partial
pressure of CO2 is less than in the soil
atmosphere through which the water has
previously travelled. The result of this is that
the seepage water loses its capacity to
carry
the carbonate it has taken up beneath
the
soil. Evaporation is not a major factor
because most cave atmospheres are
fairly
humid. Higher evaporation rates tend
to
produce only the rather chalky
speleothems
found near some entrances or in very
draughty passages. Secondly, there
must be
sufficient carbonate in solution to
enable an
appreciable amount of solute to
precipitate
out. Because the majority of the Co2
which
permits carbonate uptake is derived
from
the soil, retention of the soil mantle is
fundamental to the development and
maintenance of speleothems. Thirdly, the rate
of
water flow is important. A high flow
rate
offers the prospect of more rapid
deposition
provided that the volume is not so
great as
to prevent effective carbonate
saturation of
the water being achieved. Rapid flow
tends
to inhibit stalactite growth while stalagmite growth is inhibited by an
excessively
than
calcite, it can only precipitate when the
precipitation of calcite is inhibited, most
often
by poisoning of crystal/ growth
surfaces by
certain ions (Curl 1962, Harmon et a1.
1983).
The origins of moonmilk remain
controversial. While many workers agree that it
has
a biological origin, others have
suggested it
to be the product of vapour phase
equilibrium during evaporation (Moore and
Nicholas 1964, White 1976). Of the sulphate minerals, gypsum most
commonly
develops in caves due to the presence
of
pyrite or pyritic shale in the limestone.
The
pyrite oxidises in contact with water to
form
sulphuric acid which subsequently
reacts
with the carbonate rock. Gypsum
growing in
cracks can wedge limestone apart
because
the molar volume of the hydrated
sulphates
is greater than that of the calcium
carbonate
(Pohl and White 1965, Harmon et al.
1983).
This brief discussion of mineral genesis
is
necessarily incomplete, however
around 20
minerals are commonly found in caves,
and at
least 80 have been recorded under
special
permanently devastated, others will recover very well. The main controlling
factors appear to be: First, the depth of
glacial till dumped on limestone slopes
at the end of the last glaciation. Where
this exceeds 1-1.5 m karren
development
underneath is retarded and soil loss is
not
intolerable after clearing. Where it is
less there are big problems. Second,
the
extent and density of postglacial
karren
development. In part this is related to
lithologic variation and in part to depth
of carbonate rich till, as intimated.
Carbonate clasts in the till absorb
much
of the solutional attack. If your region
is
one of residual soils free of carbonate
clasts (as opposed to transported till)
then the problem is likely to be grave,
especially if subsurface karren are well
developed.
(D.C. Ford, pers. com. 13 April 1983).
The comments on soils and karren are
particularly pertinent because there
are few
carbonate rock fragments in the
transported
regolith materials at Mole Creek.
G. Karst Evolution and Climate
Change
The optimal climatic conditions for
karst
development remain controversial
although
the availability of water both to
dissolve
the limestone and to permit the
existence of
a living soil mantle is clearly a
fundamental
requirement. The interplay between
topographic, geologic, biotic, hydrological
and
temporal factors in karst evolution is
complex. For the sake of simplicity, the
discussion so far has assumed that the
controlling
factors are in a static condition which
of
course they are not. Many of the
balances
which exist in the system vary over
time,
16
climate among them. Some changes
are measurable over a human time scale,
others over
a geological one.
Climatic changes impact upon the
biotic,
hydrologic and topographic conditions
Which are critical to cave and karst
evolution. While some early workers have
argued that the caves of Mole Creek
post
date the most recent glaciation and
have
developed in the last 6000 years
(Burns and
Rundle 1958) more recent work has
shown
that some speleothems in the caves
are of
nearly thirty times that age (Goede and
Harmon 1983) implying that the caves
which contain them must be
considerably
older still. Their development therefore
extends back well into the Quaternary
period, a time characterised by major
climatic
oscillations. At least eight major cold
climatic episodes have occurred during
the last
700,000 years (and others earlier)
according
to the oxygen isotope record from deep
sea
cores. Conditions similar to those which
prevail at present have probably
existed
during less than 10% of the
Quaternary, in
episodes ranging from 5 - 25,000 years
duration (Shackleton and Opdyke 1973).
Mean
annual temperature has probably
fluctuated
by 5 - 12C, annual precipitation by
50% and
sea level by around 100m as ice sheets
and
glaciers waxed and waned.
The implications of changes of this kind
upon delicately poised karst systems
are
obvious. Karst landscapes are not the
result
solely of karst processes - for instance,
in
some cases the relationship between
karst
and glaciers is a very close one (Ford
river
valleys and some caves were
completely
filled. The effects of glaciers
themselves
were at times contradictory,
sometimes eroding away or filling caves and
sometimes
forming new passages through the
action of
meltwater streams (Kiernan 1982a,
1983b).
Hence the total environment was
drastically
altered with massive consequences for
the
rate and nature of karst processes and
karst
evolution. The influence of prehistoric
humans was superimposed upon these
natural effects, for fires lit by Aborigines
aided
in the destabilisation of slope mantles
and
probably caused further aggradation in
stream channels (Murray et a1. 1980,
Kiernan
et a1. 1983).
We are now faced with managing a
landscape which is not entirely the product
of
the environment that prevails today.
Our
perceptions of karst are shaped by how
we
see it from the perspective of the brief
climatic respite in which our civilisation
has blossomed, yet to some extent this
is an
atypical context. Today the vegetation
cover is the principal barrier to our
karsts
being places of considerable landscape
1979).
In Tasmania, glaciers arose most
recently
about 18,000 years ago but had
retreated by
about 10,000 years ago. During this
comparatively minor Glacial Stage the mean
annual temperature was probably only
5
6C colder than now (Kiernan 1980a,
1983a).
Nevertheless, this was sufficient to
significantly alter the environment.
Geomorphological evidence and fossil pollen
indicate
that the treeline was depressed to low
levels leaving presently forested areas
cloaked in low scrub or grasslands and
other
areas virtually devegetated (Macphail
1979). The vegetation in low lying karst
17
18
proximity to cave entrances. Most cave
dependent fauna is invertebrate. Some
species are obliged to remain
underground by
virtue of their biology, while others
must
areas of
subdued topography that facilitated
the
movement of prehistoric humans and
the
marsupials they hunted (Kiernan
1982b).
Because surface water is scarce in
karst,
springs are likely to have been foci of
past
human activity and are potential sites
for
the discovery of archaeological sites on
the
surface.
Surface biology
Outdoor recreation
Distinctive natural vegetation and
fauna
often evolve in karst terrains, due to
the
associated microclimates, topography
and
chemical conditions (Brown et a1.
1982,
Iarman and Crowden 1978). For
instance,
sinkholes can pond cold air, and
concentrate
surface moisture. They offer sheltered
sites
that may escape bushfires, and refuges
for
some species when climatic changes
occur.
They may constitute nuclei from which
species radiate when the climate
reverts to
one more favourable to them. A
number of
plants and animals are restricted to
areas of
karst. Karst vegetation may also be
important to the survival of species
that
may
Underground biology
The fauna that inhabits caves may
occur
only deep underground or it may
favour close
19